For Partners Who are Interviewing

29 Dec For Partners Who are Interviewing

Here are a few tips for partners who are interviewing with other firms:

Arrive on time. Not early. Not late. But on time. To the minute.

Anticipate potential traffic choke points that might happen on the way to your meeting. Give yourself ample margin to arrive early but don’t show up for the meeting until the appointed time.

Do research on the firm, the practice group, and also research on Linkedin the person who will be interviewing you. Where did they go to law school and other schools? In what years did they graduate? Perhaps there might be shared connections which is always a good thing to bring up to build rapport in the beginning of the meeting.

Write out intelligent questions prior to the meeting. Feel free to review this list during your conversation.

Ask this question: Assume that you hire someone who does an amazing job in this role, but they only accomplish three things. What would those three outcomes be? In other words, you are trying to find out from the potential firm the three most important outcomes related to performance in that role. This takes the conversation beyond “how big is your book” and focuses on strategy and other key priorities.

When they ask you a question, answer it directly first, and then elaborate. Some people start to answer a question but then go sideways on what was supposed to be a story to enhance the point, but they never find their way back to delivering that point. Answer the question.

Be enthusiastic. If you are interested, tell them this. When an employer is deciding between two equal candidates, then the one who wants the job the most is usually the one who gets hired. “I am glad we met today and I am very excited about this opportunity. What do you suggest the next steps are from this point forward?”

Send a thank you email and also a hand-written thank you note. They might not ever receive the hand-written note, or it may take longer for them to receive it, but either way it’s a nice gesture. This small act is remarkably shocking in a positive way, and categorizes you as someone who is now memorable.